This list of New Year books for kids will help you start the new year on the right foot! Read alouds are a great way to teach goal setting. This is very fitting for the month of January when everyone is making resolutions. These New Year books for elementary students will assist you in teaching this important skill. Check out the list of New Year books for kids below!
3 New Year Books for Kids
Check out these high-quality New Year read alouds for elementary students below: Squirrel’s New Year’s Resolution, Freedom Soup, and Shanté Keys and the New Year’s Peas. These picture books about New Year’s will be a big hit in your classroom!
1. Squirrel’s New Year’s Resolution by Pat Miller
The first on the list of New Year read aloud books is Squirrel’s New Year’s Resolution. It is the start of the new year and all of the animals in the forest have made their New Year’s resolutions, everyone except Squirrel. She starts off by asking Bear what a resolution is and if he has one. Bear explains what a resolution is and tells Squirrel that his resolution is to help their friend Skunk learn how to read. Squirrel feels determined to come up with a resolution after talking to Bear.
As she travels throughout the forest, Squirrel runs into many of her friends and talks about their resolutions. Skunk wants to learn to read, Turtle and Mole want to plant a garden, and Porcupine wants to be less grumpy. When Squirrel is eating lunch at the diner, her friends arrive too and they talk about how helpful Squirrel has been. When she visited Skunk, she helped her feel better. She climbed a tree to help Mole and Turtle find a spot for their garden. She also taught Porcupine some funny jokes. That is when Squirrel realizes what her resolution will be: to help someone each day. I liked this book so much that I added it to Starts With a Story collection!
If you are looking for lesson ideas, worksheets, and activities to go with a New Years book, check out this Squirrel’s New Year’s Resolution book companion. It includes reading comprehension questions, digital activities, printable worksheets, and much more!
2. Freedom Soup by Tami Charles
The second on the list of New Year’s children’s books is Freedom Soup. It is a cold and snowy day, but inside Ti Gran’s kitchen, it is warm and busy. Today, Belle is excited for her Ti Gran to teach her how to make traditional Haitian Freedom Soup for New Year’s Day.
As they prepare the ingredients and add them to the big pot, Ti Gran tells Belle why it is called Freedom Soup and what it means to their people. Long ago, the people of Haiti were enslaved and forced to work for their masters. Part of their work was making Freedom Soup, which they were never allowed to eat. When the Haitians rebelled and won their freedom, they were finally able to make and eat Freedom Soup. Every New Year’s Day, Haitians make and eat Freedom Soup to remind themselves of their fight for freedom.
If you need printable or digital resources to use with the book, then check out these Freedom Soup activities! This resource includes reading comprehension questions, digital activities, printable worksheets, and much more!
3. Shanté Keys and the New Year’s Peas by Gail Piernas-Davenport
The third on the list of new years picture books is Shanté Keys and the New Year’s Peas. Shanté is visiting her grandmother’s house for New Year’s dinner when they realize that they are out of black-eyed peas. For many African Americans, eating black-eyed peas with dinner is a New Year’s tradition.
Determined to get some for her grandmother, Shanté sets out to ask her neighbors if they have any. At each house, the different families inside introduce her to the many different New Year’s traditions of other cultures. Finally, Shanté arrives at her aunt’s home, where she has more than enough peas to share. Shanté invites everyone she encountered along her journey to their house for dinner. After she gets the peas, they all come over to enjoy them!
If you need printable or digital resources to use with the book, then check out these Shanté Keys and the New Year’s Peas Soup activities! This resource includes reading comprehension questions, digital activities, printable worksheets, and much more!
Get All of the New Year Book Activities!
Scoop up all of the activity packets based on the picture books featured in this post!
Or Get All of the Activity Packets for 600+ Picture Books!
Starts with a Story is a collection of hundreds of book companions based on high quality children’s literature that support you in delivering highly-engaging interactive read alouds with follow up activities. Each book companion includes:
- reading comprehension questions with sample student responses
- 30 writing prompts targeting 10 different types of writing
- SEL lesson ideas based on character and events from each story
- printable student activities
- editable teaching slides with book-based clipart
- and more.
Learn how to get unlimited access to all 600+ book companion packets below!
Teachers Love these Other New Year’s Activities for Kids
We have lots of New Year activities you can use in your classroom. Check out the blog post New Year’s Activities for Kids to get more ideas and teaching resources!
One Last Thing Before You Go… Grab this Free Reading Resource!
If you want to get more book ideas to read aloud to your elementary students, then grab this reading freebie for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade classroom teachers. It includes:
- seasonal read aloud books lists for teachers
- printable reading logs to track students’ reading
- monthly reading challenges to motivate students to read more
It will have you covered for the entire school year, as well as the summer months! Grab this free elementary reading packet now!
In closing, we hope you found this list of New Year’s books for kids helpful! If you are a member of Starts With a Story, you have access to all of these book companion activities. Lastly, you may also be interested in these winter read alouds if you love read alouds like us!
